The Court of Blood and Thorns

[Sileauniamh]

Macha nic Dian

Cold Wings

There were very few that the Sidhe Queene Sileauniamh trusted more than the consumate warrioress Macha nic Dian. She was powerful without a doubt, having appeared early on as the Sidhe who was then called Rae was just finding out her powers as both Sidhe and a Queene of such and Macha had proven indispensable to the young Queene. There had seemed to be a sort of instant connection betwixt the two which should have been both indicator and warning to those that watched that Sidhe Rae, it should have been the perfect clue as to what sort of Sidhe she was for starters but as with many things that should be obvious that clue was overlooked.



It was a clue that should have been heeded because there were few Sidhe that were more Unseelie than Macha. She was one of the few powerful enough to keep her name when she came from the Fae lands into the more Mortal realms, and none were really surprised at the fate of the few Sidhe that rose up to challenge her new close tie with the Queene, those fools that thought they could somehow rise in her favor by defeating those that she kept close to her. Macha was not the only one challenged or attacked of course, but she made her examples far more public than anyone but Prince Sularan. Even she had been taken aback by the charred remains that he had let hang from a rather large statue in "Rae's" maze garden for a handful of days. The stench of seared flesh alone had served as enough of a warning to keep them away from the brooding Prince and his bolts of lightning from that point on.



Ravager was more subtle in how he dealt with his enemies, and he had both the pleasure and burden of being in Sil's most precious Inner Court and it was certain that any Sidhe that truly displeased or tried to harm him often found themselves in the last place they would want to be, which was of course in his hands at his mercy. Though as Macha might reflect on that, mercy was a word foreign to the Court Torturer of the Court of Blood and Thorns. This did not distress her of course, since mercy whilst not unknown to her was still not something she favored or often gave. It was often said that her caresses were more like the stroke of a feather from cold wings that stirred the breath of the grave over the one she would touch though her presence never bothered the Queene or her children in the least.



Her foes on the other hand would often cry out from the pain and pleasure of her touch, and more than one rumor said that the warrioress not only could slay Sidhe but that she could devour their souls, their inner magical spark that was supposed to be immortal. Unlike Ravager she never covered her hands with leather or satin to mask their power, but no one could say for certain just what Hands of Power she held sway over. All that they could guess was that somehow she held a sovereignity over death, some saying that to lie in her embrace was to flirt with more than death though there were none in the current court she served that could say for certain what it was like to lie with her.



So deft were her skills with weapons though that she had not in recent memory been placed into a position to have to reveal her Hands. Even as other Sidhe strode the field of battle with the Goblins that tried to invade the new territory held by Sil's Court releasing their beautiful and terrible magics, Macha slew them with her weapons of metal and magic, the most frightening of which was named Seele Mörder, a sword with a blade of Cold Iron and hilt rumored to be made from the bones and leather of the first creature that Macha slew. Now whether or not this creature was Sidhe or some monster out of Faerie was never revealed and those that might have the nerve to ask her never did. What was known was that after a battle she would stalk the field like a wraith and silence those that would have sought to continue to harm those in her charge, delivering a coup de grace that would end the lives of those wretched injured ... and feed the hunger of her blade.

[Sileauniamh]

All the Stars

The Rage of the Storm

Most people don't realize what thunder truly is; it is the shockwave that radiates away from the strike path of a bolt of lightning and echoes its destructive glory. Lightning itself is one of the most beautiful manifestations of light that happens in nature despite its power and fury, nothing is truly more lovely than a lightning bolt against a dark sky. As a Sidhe All the Stars appreciated beauty of course, and as one that had the Hand of Light he loved light in all its forms. So he should have loved lightning but he did not, at least to be more precise he no longer did because he hated a certain Sidhe above all others.



As a Sidhe he was well versed in how to deal with rivals but even he, old as he was, had been caught and blindsided by the arrival of Prince Sularan. Many of the older ones like him had come because they not only wanted freedom but a chance to court a new Queene, and in the normal course of things they would have been overjoyed that Julian was gone, leaving her open for approach. But the course of things were far from normal in the Court of Blood and Thorns, Sileauniamh who had been Rae ruled far differently than any other Sidhe liege. A male that was not one of her d**ned Inner Court would not be a male she would look at as more than someone to protect, accepted as a part of her Court but nothing else, no matter how powerful, subtle, beautiful he might be. It confounded many of the glittering throng that this was so, though truth be told it had kept many of them alive.



All the Stars knew that first of all any non priveleged Sidhe would have to get past that cursed and frightening Ravager to even lay claim to a moment of Sil's time, and he wondered how much of that was her own will or simply Ravager's interperetation of her will. She favored Ravager above all others in the court save for three, and those three were also within her Inner Court. First was the Lord of Winter, Prince Sindhur who was tied to her by feelings of relation, Secondly was Eilonwy, the Rose that Loved Winter, and Thirdly was the one that All the Stars and many others absolutely hated with a passion that was close to deadly rage. Third among those that Sil would literally drop what she was doing to heed was the Lord of Storms, Prince Sularan. They hated him because from the moment he had entered this reality through a Gate he had summoned, piercing his way from the Fae Courts of Dream he had held a special place in the heart of the young Sidhe Queene, a place that perhaps only Ravager might have had a chance to usurp.



And that chance was slim, for no matter how eerily attached the Queene was to her Court Torturer Prince Sularan was the one that had shown her first how to share the Light of the Sidhe, and he was the one that could match her in power. A scowl was on the face of the Sidhe as he thought of those two, of Ravager and Sularan and how he disliked both of them. Yet he would never dare to endanger his position with this Court, with the Queene's Praetorian Guard, and his very life to challenge either of them. Sil might seem oblivious to the depth of some of the things she decided, but All the Stars felt deeply that she knew exactly what she had done when she chose to give part of her heart to each of those deadly Sidhe males. She would ultimately love Sularan, the whole Court knew it. But she had also vowed that any who harmed her Ravager would face more than her blessing to him to retaliate with force, they would face her very own Vengeance, they would face Macha nic Dian and Morgan nic Danu.



Inwardly All the Stars seethed as he watched from the wall as Sularan trained the Grand Army of Oreitheldarin, because he knew that Sileauniamh watched him as well from her window. His tri-colored eyes smouldered with his anger and hate, his raw milk hair blowing back from his face in the breeze. He was safe to hate Sularan from a distance, so hate him he would. Someday he might snap, someday he might face the rage of the Lord of Storms in a duel despite knowing how Sularan dealt with those he fought. Today however, was not that day.

[Sileauniamh]

Morgan nic Danu

Velvet Darkness


When she first arrived at the then unnamed newly formed Sidhe Court that had gathered slowly around the one known as "Rae" Morgan nic Danu had been unwittingly shunned by a handful of Sidhe nobles because they had thought from a distance that she was someone else, thinking the silver glint of her hair was a trick of the light, thinking it was the sheen from hair that was darker than pitch. They had unfortunately for them mistaken her for the Sidhe male who had also recently come and been accepted into the Queene's Inner Court, the fools had thought that she was the freshly named Court Torturer Ravager.



She supposed that she could see the mistake as they had hailed her from a distance and both sidhe had remarkably similar eyes, though her rings were reversed and hers were black, gray, and silver where his were black, silver and slate gray. They also held sovereignity over the Hand of Night, and in a court of gorgeous Sidhe both were unusually fair. But her hair was a fall of silver, nearly the same as Prince Sindhur save her own lacked the darker tips and her lashes were black like velvet darkness; the Court Torturer had hair so black it defied a proper adjective. Yet those fools had thought her to be him! They had hurled insults meant for another and turned their backs ... until she came up upon them and stabbed the leader just under his ribs in just that fashion meant to truly cause debilitating agony. His screams had been nearly musical but not enough to overpower her low voice.



"Never turn your back to me again."



Thinking of that long ago entrance would still to this day bring a bit of a smirk to her lips as her fingers would brush an imaginary speck of dirt from her armor. She was one half of the Queene's Vengeance, her partner Macha nic Dian. They said that in the Court of Blood and Thorns there were two things that could happen to you if you enraged the Queene, or betrayed her. One of course was a session with her favored one, the Court Torturer. The other, a visit from her Vengeance. Macha was the one that would kill you clean ... Morgan was the one that would make you wish that you had been given to Ravager.

[Sileauniamh]

Prince Sularan

The Prince of Storms





There were a multitude of reasons that many of the Sidhe of Sileaniamh's Court despised Prince Sularan. In fact there were nearly as many reasons as there were Sidhe, though the largest of them seemed to be rooted in jealousy. This Sidhe might be jealous of him because he had the Queene's ear, that Sidhe might be jealous of him because he was fairer than most. Yet of the throng that did despise him all those that were rash enough to confront him headlong had learned the lesson that he was not a Sidhe to be trifled with under the best of circumstances and that he was swift to anger when it came to being confronted by fools. What little patience the Sidhe Prince had was wrapped up with his Queene, and woe betide those that forgot this important fact.



Of all those that did despise the Prince that one day might be King the oldest and most powerful was the Sidhe named All the Stars. He had been the Captain of the Queene's Praetorian Guards in RoseHaven nearly the entire time that the Sidhe had trod the soil of Oreitheldarin; and he was proud of the status which this afforded him with the fae that had come from the Dream Realm to serve the newly created Sidhe Queene. Unfortunately this pride in place had blinded him to the fact that while he had that command and the respect that came with the title of Captain, he was not one of the core group of Sidhe forming around the Queene, he was not a part of her Inner Court.



It was hard for him to say exactly which Sidhe had been the first accepted in that fashion simply because he had been busy with his duties and those who were supposed to be keeping a weather eye towards the intrigues of the forming Court had not reported anything amiss to him. It was either Macha nic Dian or that d**nable Ravager, a name given to a very old and hated Sidhe by her that was then called Rae. Whether she saw the full irony of this was still hotly debated, albeit under the breaths of the debaters. But honestly even Sularan himself had at first questioned his closeness to the Queene until she announced quite suddenly one day that Ravager was Hers, the Court Torturer and Right Hand to the Queene. To other Sidhe that at least had made total sense, who better to serve as torturer than one who had a mastery of the art and the full subtlety to enjoy his work?



Unlike other Sidhe nobles however, Sularan had a surety of his place with the Queene in both her affections and regard; this led him to deftly brush off those that sought to create a rift between himself and Ravager over his familiarity with the Queene. This did not mean that the Prince liked Ravager; quite the contrary was in fact true. They had hated each other nearly on sight, a fresh hatred fueled by instant instinctive despite and had nothing to do with any past interactions between the two males. All the Stars had been a witness to that first meeting and could still amuse himself with the recollection of the sudden heaviness that had come to the air and the sparks that seemed to glow in the eyes of the Prince when his gaze had met Ravager's.



He almost wished that Sileaniamh had not been there to walk betwixt the two with her casual and almost careless grace, her tiny form exotic amongst any Sidhe Court be it Seelie or Unseelie and thus all the more enticing. She had trailed her hands so that her right touched Ravager and her left Sularan, and both had instantly switched their full attention to her. Part of the Sidhe males watching had thought to make mock of this but a single upward lift of Sularan's chin in wordless challenge made those jeers die on their lips. Cowards. All the Stars had turned away in seeming disgust at the display, however the disgust he felt was truly focused upon himself because he knew that he would have given anything, even his Hand of Power, to have been one of the males that the Queene would favor with a touch.



So many of the Court had hoped that she would declare herself Seelie because what a victory it would have been for them, a Seelie Queene with Unseelie Courtiers! But Prince Sularan had known the moment she had turned to him in seeming innocence and first spoken the name for her Court what she would be and he was proud of her for it. The Court of Blood and Thorns, it was fitting! She had told him why, and he was uncertain if anyone outside the Inner Court even knew. It still touched the heart of the Prince of Storms, because she had told him that the thorns were a part of the name because she had first met him at the Claw and Cross in RoseHaven and all roses had thorns. For him, but in a way that only those she trusted would ever know.



That knowledge was what made him work as hard as he did for her, and he made all the things he did show his devotion to her. When he trained the King's army in the ways of Sidhe combat it was so that she would be better protected. When she needed something, if it was something he could do, it would be done or he would find someone that could if he could not. A wry smile could sometimes be seen on the Prince's lips, and had anyone dared ask him why he might have deigned to answer that it was because there was so much fuss over such a tiny Queene.



Yet there had been no softening over time of his vigilance as one of his most recent detractors had found. This one had come from the Crystal Court, Seelie in origin and claimed that he had been treated ill in the same fashion as Sunset had. She was gentle beyond the normal, and they had been merciless in their hating her because the King of the Crystal Court had fancied her and she had refused him. It had taken Sileaniamh months to coax her to be herself, to build a sense of worth in the damaged Seelie Sidhe. Things had gotten better when Eilonwy had come to the Court with Prince Sindhur and Sunset had a developed an instant friendship and attachment to the newly created Seelie Sidhe. But Sularan had known something was amiss in the story that the new Sidhe male had been spinning because the moment that Sunset had seen him she had fled his presence.



Other resources that the Prince had at hand were called in on this matter, so when the Seelie male in his arrogance had given Sularan even the slightest of rebuffs in a public setting he was ready. The fool had known he was found out when he had 'accidentally' mispronounced Sularan's name and then had the temerity to laugh about it while giving the Prince a sidelong glance to gage his response. Unfortunately this fool had never heard much about the Prince or he would have known he was dealing with a Sidhe who had the powers of a God of Storms, a true power amongst the Fae. For once Prince Sularan let an expression of almost glee cross his handsome fair face as the sky outside the open courtyard darkened to black and the air roiled with the sudden appearance of clouds where there had been none.



A quick and sharp retort had been the Prince's verbal response and the fool Seelie had found himself in a Duel with the Prince much to his consternation. He had tried to back out of it to preserve his anonymity but Sularan had pressed his rights. The Seelie Lord revealed himself then as who Sularan knew he was, an assassin of the King of the Crystal Courts and the Duel was on. Afterwards many of the Sidhe there were glad that they had never truly engaged Sularan in more than verbal battles. Prince Sularan decided that the male should be left out in the open as a reminder and warning of what happened to those that fully crossed him or put the Queene he served in danger.



It took a few days for the screams to become hoarse croaking, and the flakes of charred flesh fell from the hanging body for over a week before the Prince allowed someone to take pity on him and give him the choice. Continue to hang, unable to heal and in mortal agony until the Prince decided to remember to take him down, or end his mortal existence and drop into the quiet and waiting arms of Death. So while Macha nic Dian had been the one to give the coup de grace with her named blade, all knew that had Sularan wished his powers could have ended that life just as handily.



It made All the Stars hate him even more than he had the day that Sileaniamh had named Sularan the Captain of the Praetorians in his place because he knew now what his fate would be if he should ever allow his rage to overcome his sense. That hate was palpable in the air as the Prince strode past him on his way somewhere for the Queene he adored, and if anything Sularan seemed amused. Let them hate, so long as they fear. It was a motto that Ravager had taken to heart, and it seemed that for the enemies of Prince Sularan it was something they would also do well to remember.

[Sileauniamh]

Sunset



Gentle Like Eiderdown



Sileaniamh was not like other Sidhe, and this was painfully obvious to any fey that spent time watching the young Sidhe Queene. There were things about her that would have gone unremarked in Elven races that made her exotic and desirable to the Sidhe, like her diminutive stature and the way she was so open with her emotions. Many of her affectations and her demeanor had of course come from the fact that she had for many years thought herself someone and something else, something other than what she was. That veneer had slowly fallen away to reveal the true core of her, like the pod that opened to release the milkweed within, the husk dropping free to reveal the softness that was gentle like eiderdown to the touch.



Yet that description fit another Sidhe far more aptly; the Seelie Sidhe that Sil had christened Sunset was truly gentle, truly soft and kind, in a world that was far more often none of those things. She had had the misfortune to be born into the Seelie Sidhe Court called the Crystal Court to parents that while they would not shrive themselves of the blessing of fertility and the solidity that this gave both their relationship and their standing in the Court wanted none of the children that they had been blessed with. Not wanting them did not stop them from having them, of course. They did relish the attention after all, and the attachments that could be obtained with other Noble Houses had appeal to them as well.



Sunset was a true Seelie Sidhe beauty and it served her well enough when she was a child. Her eyes were a stunning combination of royal blue, orange, and peach rings that well suited the golden blond of her silky hair. She was an apt student of magic though showed no early hints of what Hand of Power might be hers; in point of fact this had been the catalyst for the early stirrings of casual cruelty that became the norm for her within the Court. What good was she, even if her magic was strong, if she had no Hand of Power? Could she be defective somehow, and this lack was the proof of it? Such things began as whispers, as if simply because she was a child she would not understand what was being said about her, in front of her.



When she was coming into her maturity the whispers became much louder of course, and the actions of the speakers began to match the words. She was shunned because they felt she was either defective or too secretive, none would believe that she could be as truly gentle as she seemed. Though none could discover any duplicity in her nor discover if she had any that she might be conspiring with, it made no matter to the courtiers because they could not fathom anyone that did not act as they did. So because she had no supporters all she gained was negative attention, and soon no one wanted to be the one to extend a hand of friendship to her lest they themselves would be put in the same position as her, and be targeted like she was for the worst of the gossip of the court.



Then something happened that might have become a change for the better, but of course it only ended up becoming one more millstone around her neck. The King of the Crystal Court fancied her out of the blue one day, proclaiming that he had become smitten with her gentle nature and he offered to her his protection if only she would give herself to him and become his concubine. There were of course the normal dangers to his offer, in that the Queene did not often treat such creatures with kindness and it was sure her supporters might make things difficult at best for the young Sidhe. But she that would be Sunset had another problem.



She had a gift that she shared with no one, a gift that allowed her to see the motives behind the words, to see the truth in the soul of any fey, and she knew that what motivated the King was not an attraction that would seek to make her safe. He had in him the desire to destroy beautiful things, to crush the spirit of other Sidhe, to damage them beyond repair. This was not a Seelie impulse, but it was wound around the core of him and it was something he encouraged and fed often. It was hidden from most of his court and of course he did not dare act out his dark desires on his Queene. It was for his concubines to bear the brunt of it, and in truth he could not wait to demolish whatever lay within her.



So she refused him, and the hell she thought she lived in only became worse. She would not give herself to him, but as King he had ways to force what he wanted upon others. It would only be a matter of time until he could force her to acquiesce, the near weekly visits to the torturer would give him that. She still said no, despite the ways that the torturer tried to break her, bones would knit and flesh would heal, bruises fade. It was the damage to her Spirit that was the worst, and she spiraled down inwardly to a place that had her wondering if perhaps it might not have just been better to allow the King to destroy her. When she had gotten to the point that she could not endure more, she heard that first rumor.



There was a Queene, who had appeared out of the blue on the Mortal Plane. None knew her lineage or even if she was Seelie or Unseelie. But she accepted into her service any Sidhe or fey that came to her, no questions asked. It was even whispered amongst the Sluagh that she had taken in the one known as Talioun and treated him as if he were actually wanted in her presence! Hope blossomed in the Sidhe when she heard this; surely if this Queene could take in one as universally reviled as That One, she would find room in her Court for someone as useless and loathed as she! Unfortunately for her it took another Season to escape that King, and when she arrived at Sileaniamh's doorstep she was shattered in more ways than one.



She would never forget the dulcet tones of the Queene's voice as she lifted her from her knees with her own two hands and smiled at her as if she had been waiting for her to come.



“Ah, here she is, our Sunset has finally arrived.”



A voice as gentle as eiderdown, and sincerity in those golden and amber ringed eyes. Sunset had wept, and it had taken such a long time for this Queene to fix her. Her Court was not perfect, but it was so much better than what many of them had ever known. Amazingly then came Prince Sindhur and his Companion, a Seelie Sidhe known as Eilonwy, and Sunset gained her first real friendship with that raven haired beauty known as the Rose Bladesinger. Even more amazing had been the day that Prince Sularan himself had slain an assassin that had come to the Court of Blood and Thorns from the Crystal Court. There were many Sidhe that hated Prince Sularan ... but from that day forward, he was her hero.